ASIAN equities traded broadly lower on Thursday following Wall Street’s fall overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 1.1% while the S&P 500 dropped 1.4% on Wednesday. 

The US Federal Reserve repeated it that will be “patient in beginning to normalise” rates. Whilst it was upbeat on the strength of the economy, the central bank also mentioned that it would take into account financial and international developments when deciding on when to raise rates. The latter is seen to indicate a slightly more dovish stance.

Stocks were, however, pressured by persistent weakness in oil prices, after latest report indicated a rise in US stockpiles. The Brent crude and WTI crude are trading at US$48.51 and US$44.33 per barrel, respectively. 

Closer to home, the FBM KLCI index lost 13.7 points or 0.76% to 1,782.2. Market breath was negative with losers outperforming gainers 2.22 to 1.

I bought 22,000 shares of Jobstreet Corporation Bhd at 44.5 sen per share. The stock was picked out by our 2nd generation algorithm, which now differentiates between stocks that exhibit positive (+ve) and negative (-ve) momentum. Jobstreet closed at 45 sen. 

Readers can visit The Edge Markets (at www.theedgemarkets.com) to view the daily momentum stocks, which will be posted by 2.30 pm.

My portfolio is now 90.2% invested. The portfolio — restarted with a capital of RM100,000 yesterday — has outperformed FBM KLCI by 6.1%.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 30, 2015.